George Marks, 1857-1933 The Beach and Chalk Cliffs at Beer Devon,with Fishermen and a Family on the Pebble Beach

George Marks, 1857-1933

The Beach and Chalk Cliffs at Beer Devon,with Fishermen and a Family on the Pebble Beach

Signed/Inscribed:

on the reverse " BEER DEVON / GEORGE MARKS / SHERE / GUILDFORD / SURREY "

pencil and watercolour

25 x 38 cm. (9.3/4 x 15in.)

Provenance :

By family descent from the artist.

Notes

Beer is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, at which time it was located within Colyton hundred and had 28 households. Its name is not derived from the drink, but from the Old English word bearu, meaning "grove" and referring to the original forestation that surrounded the village.

It is a pretty coastal village that grew up around a smugglers' cove and caves which were once used to store contraband goods. These are now part of the attraction of the village. Many of the buildings are faced with flint, a hard glassy stone found in the local chalk rock.

Beer grew up around a smuggler’s cove and the caves, which still characterize this picturesque town on Lyme Bay. The men of Beer were once known as the 'the very kings of smugglers' and the caves were used to store all kinds of contraband. However, surprisingly, the town does not take its name from the barrels of the good stuff that would have inevitably been stored in these aforementioned hidey holes. Beer is an Anglo-Saxon word and refers to the forests which used to surround this particular hamlet. The smuggling history is very much reflected in the town today and Jack Rattenbury is notorious as the most famous smuggler in the South West.

In the late 18th century and early 19th century, smuggling provided many citizens of Beer with an income on both sides of the law. According to George Pulman in ‘The Book of the Axe’, published in 1875, “In former days, when the coastguard was inefficient and the exciseman lax, the Beer men were the very kings of smugglers.”

Beer fishermen had always had a fine reputation for their ability to handle and sail boats. With this ability and the ideal geographical location for landing contraband and transportation to remote farms and houses, smuggling became an alternative “trade” for some of the fishermen. By 1750, the area was so notorious that the local revenue officers were reinforced by dragoons posted in Beer, Branscombe and Seaton.

The boats used were Beer luggers, built in Beer, between 25ft to 35ft in length. They usually had a 4 man crew. Much of the contraband was brought in from the Channel Island of Alderney, but in some cases the smugglers would collect contraband from the North coast of France. As well as casks of brandy, tea, tobacco and silk were other commodities that were smuggled into Beer.

Not all of the inhabitants of Beer were smugglers, indeed some worked for the authorities to catch the smugglers. This could prove complicated and there are reported instances of coastguards being bribed to turn a blind eye at the appropriate time. The honest citizens could also make money from smuggling by informing on the smugglers or by retrieving the contraband. Revenue Cutter captains were rewarded for the contraband once it was handed over to the authorities and sold.

If a smuggler was being chased by a Revenue Cutter or had received a signal from shore, usually a fire, that coastguards were about, then the casks could be roped together in a raft and sunk offshore and its position marked by a float for later retrieval by “creeping”, fishing up the tubs using grappling hooks. In the event that the smuggler did not have time to sink a raft, then the kegs could be thrown overboard. To secure a conviction, the Cutter required both the smuggler and the contraband, so by separating himself from the contraband increased the smuggler’s chances of escape, especially as the contraband could be of financial benefit to the Revenue Cutter captain. Revenue cutter crews would also “creep” for contrab